The Night Before Christmas
by Jayteeisme
Summary: Maggie is a shy 14 year old girl. She's never missed a day of school in her life. She always gets straight A's and wouldn't except anything less. Before the year ends this December, Maggie is determined to make herself known. This is a delightful story that will surely bring you warmth on those cold winter nights.
1. Part One

**Part one**

The windows in the tiny kitchen of the two bedroom apartment building has a sheet of condensation on them from the drastic contrast of warmth inside and cold outside. The clock chimes it's recognizable tune in the background, it's 6 o clock now. Maggie sits quietly at the wooden table picking at her macaroni . "I'm worried about you." Maggie's mom says. "I made your favorite dinner and you won't even eat it?"

"I'm not hungry." Maggie says, as she looks outside at the now gently falling snowflakes outside the window. Her mom tries to hide her worried expression but the concern is apparent in her voice. "Now what's really wrong, I know you must be hungry because you refused your breakfast this morning, did something happen at school today?"

Maggie's relationship with her mother had been stronger then ever since "it" happened so Maggie wondered why this was so hard to tell her. For the first time in her 14 years, Maggie had messed up. Maggie screwed up big time...


	2. Part two

**Part Two **

Earlier That Day

Maggie's alarm clock rings at 4 to wake her from her sleep. She may not have been sleeping that well though because the anxiety for the chemistry final that day was beginning to sink in. Maggie stretches out her feet and turns on her bed room lamp. The light stings her eyes blinding her for a second. She rises from her bed and walks clumsily ,still a little drowsy from her sleep, to get her backpack in the kitchen. The christmas tree lights are off but even so it still looks just as cheerful. She reaches down and holds the navy drawstring bag in her hand, worn out from all the books she carries in it. As she flings the heavy bag across her shoulder, it bangs into the wooden table. Maggie's heart stops for a second as she hears an ear crushing sound of something being smashed to pieces. Maggie, now wide awake, imagines what could've possibly broken. Her eyes frantically dart on the floor to see what the sound was. Her eyes are glossed over with tears as she suddenly realizes what has taken such a great fall. Lying in hundreds of broken bits on the kitchen floor is a Christmas ornament, but no not just any average ornament. It was her mothers favorite. This ornament resembled everything that was ever good in Maggie and her moms life. Dad had given it to her for Christmas two years ago. This specific traditional ornament always held a special place on the christmas tree. Now as the memories faded in Maggie's head looking at the broken ornament, she began to cry. Her dad was always so sweet to Maggie. She remembered her dad tucking her in at night and reading her stories, especially The Night Before Christmas on Christmas eve. She could still here his deep voice reading the calming words written on the page to her. She might've been avoiding it but the broken ornament forced her to come back to reality. The reality was that she was never going to see her father again.


	3. Part three (Maggie's POV)

My father gave my mom that ornament two years ago. Two years ago was so different then now, when dad was still alive. Staring at the pieces was painful and I knew mom would be up soon.

I grabbed the dust pan behind the leaking washing machine surrounded by a dirty puddle of water. "That's ironic." I think to myself. Something that is supposed to be cleaning our clothes to make our lives simpler is in fact making our lives harder by the awful leak ruining our floor. My mom would be terribly upset when she found out I had broken a gift from dad. What would I even tell her? Bending down to the broken ornament, my knees cracked. I cleaned up the bits and put them in a brown paper bag. I had to hide the evidence but where would I put it? All I knew was that I had to figure out fast. Then it hit me. My hair brush always falls behind the bathroom drawer. That would be a perfect place to hide the ornament.

The rest of the day it was hard to focus and I found myself in a daze for the most part. Before I knew it I was back home after school sitting at the wooden table in the kitchen eating dinner. "What's wrong?" My moms voice wakes me from my day dream. I can hear the concern in her voice so I stumble across the right words to say. Everything gets fuzzy and my head starts to spin at the thought of anything I might say. There seemed to be no way out of this. Just as the words were about to escape my mouth, the phone rang. I didn't know who was on the phone ad I should've been surprised since no one ever calls but I was just so thankful for the distraction. My mom looked frustrated when she answered the phone with a short, "Yes?" A long pause occurred after this. "No, were not interested." She said, a sign the conversation was coming to an end. "Mm-hmm, Merry Christmas." Worried my mom would return to the original conversation I say, "Who was that?" Trying to look like I cared. "It was some church calling to see if anyone wanted to be in their annual Christmas play." she said. "And what did you say?" I said, now actually curious. "Well I simply said we weren't interested." she said. I thought about it for a little while. "This could be perfect!" I thought to myself. All my life no one had ever noticed me. This play could be the one thing that finally changes that.


End file.
